One Piece: The Novel
by puppyslipers
Summary: The story of the Staw-hats their beganing their meetings and their subsiquent adventures. All characters are property of Oda-sensei
1. The man who will become Pirate King pt 1

Wealth, Fame, Power. The man who had acquired everything in this world, the pirate King, Gold Roger. The final words that were said at his execution, sent people to the seas.

"My wealth and treasures?" the Pirate King couldn't help but grin in spite of his impending death. "If you want it, I'll let you have it. Look for it; I left all of it at that place!"

Men now, chasing their dreams, head towards the Grand Line. The world now enters a Great Age of Pirates.

**Chapter one: I'm Luffy! The man who will become the Pirate King!**

It was a deceptively beautiful day the sun was high and bright in the sky the calls of seagulls echoed across the horizon and water was a remarkable blue green. In fact it would have been perfect day for sailing had it not been for the gigantic whirlpool just off to port.

Two of the ship's crewmembers leaned against the railings as they stared at the rapidly spinning water. "Wow." said the taller of the two in awe of the sheer size of it. The other man opened his mouth to reply when a sudden tap caught their attention. They looked down to see a wooden barrel.

Meanwhile inside the ship soft music played as the elite, wealthy, and important mingled amongst each other. A few couples leaned into each other's arms waltzing to the band, a few scattered groups talking about the latest gossip and a few worried remarks about the whirlpool outside."Please don't be concerned. A whirlpool like that won't affect this ship." The captain did his best to reassure his guests.

Young tangerine haired women stared out into the ocean lost in her own thoughts. No one knew she hadn't been invited or that she had snuck her way on board for a separate purpose.

"Miss," she opened her eyes in surprise and turned towards the voice. "May I have the honor of this dance?" he asked politely and she accepted with a smile. After all that didn't mean she could have a bit of fun.

Back out on deck the shorter of the two crewmembers twirled the grappling hook over his head carefully aiming for the floating barrel. "Alright!" he shouted as he released the hook and completely missed the barrel. "Aww, missed again!" he groaned. 67 times he had tried to hook that barrel and every time the waves seemed to push the barrel just out of his reach.

"Batter Out!" the taller one snickered.

"What are you doing?" the watchman shouted down to the deck. He had been watching them continually throw the hook over board and pull it back up empty handed. "You guys suck." He laughed. Then he stiffened it felt like something was coming and so he looked over his shoulder. Just an island.

"It's really heavy..." the huskier of the two groaned as they pulled the barrel up after finally attaching the hook.

"It's a wine barrel." his taller companion replied. "Must have a lot."

"Let's keep it." the shorter of the two said with a grin thinking of the fun they would have with it.

But up in the crow's nest the watchman's eyes were wide with horror as sweat dripped down the back of his neck. For sailing from behind the island was a very pink pirate ship but it wasn't the pinkness that terrified him it was the flag. Skull and crossbones with a heart painted on the sideways facing skull. "Trouble to the starboard!" he shouted all traces of shock washed away with years of training. "There's a pirate flag on top of the mast." The two crew mates looked up at the watchman in shock. "A pirate ship!" he shouted again. "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" The two then dropped the barrel and ran to inform the captain.

There was a sudden boom from the pirate ship, a low whistling and several large splashes.

They were under attack.

Several guest screamed as they were tossed to the floor as the ship tossed in result of the waves created by the pirate ship's cannon balls. Panic seemed to rein the ballroom but one person seemed almost to calm. The tangerine haired women paused not noticing the panic on the dance partner's face. Her eyes shadowed.

"Captain! Pirates!" the two burst into the room slight panic written on their faces.

"What?!" The captain shouted as another explosion rocked the boat. "Everyone, please calm down!" he ordered "Please calm down! Please follow my instructions calmly!"

The guest ran in a panic towards whatever exit they could find all but the orange haired women who had long snuck from her panicked partner and kept towards the wall unwilling to be swept up by the panicking people.

"Fire!" the captain of the pirate ship ordered and so they did. Cannon balls rained around the marine ship one even shattering the ship's head. "Coby!" she barked out eyes still staring as the ship attempted to retreat.

"Y...yes." spectacled boy answered nervously. His hands clasped in front of him as he stared up at the captain.

"Who's the most beautiful woman in this ocean?" she asked.

"It's the captain of this ship of course. Alvida-sama." the pink haired boy replied with fear.

This answer pleased the pirate and a grin stretched across her wide face as she gave a haughty laugh. She slammed her spiked club on the deck with a solid thump. This was Iron Club Alvida self-proclaimed as the most beautiful woman of the sea but if it hadn't been for her club no one would have even thought of calling her beautiful. Her body was found almost ball like with fat and her face was wide, and stretched out as if she tried to stretch out any wrinkles before they had a chance to appear. But the worst part was the outfit. The gray pants with only a dark blue belt, a pink shirt with the sleeves rolled up and on top of her head was a white cowboy's hat with a bright red feather sticking out of it. "Well said." she complemented.

"Thank you very much!" was the prompt and terrified reply.

"Alvida-sama, it has been a while hasn't it?" asked a tall bearded pirate.

"Indeed! Now pull alongside the ship!"

The pirates cheered as their ship changed course just enough for the next cannon ball to crash through the top of the main mass. This would keep the marine ship from getting any further.

The guest screamed as yet another explosion shook the ship but on deck the mysterious barrel rolled across the wooden floor and down the stairs before crashing in the storage room.

The orange haired woman ran her dress hiked up in her hands ran through the corridors before making it to the door that led on deck. She poked a head out carefully looking for any people. Seemingly content with the lack of crew or guest she snuck out on to deck only to rush back into the hall as Alvida's ship's swan head pulled into view.

The pirates threw their hooks easily catching them on the railings of the marine ship a few quick knots was all that was needed to transform the rope into a walkway. "Men! Show them the power of Alvida, the female iron club pirate!" the round woman shouted. Several swung on ropes but soon all the pirates were on board the marine ship. All except for Coby who stood shaking gripping the rope some pirate had shoved into his hands. "Coby! What are you doing?" the women shouted at the whimpering boy.

"I....I'm not used to this..." he said his fear of boarding a ship full of marines briefly over riding his fear of Alivida.

Of course this enraged the female pirate. "You dare talk back to me?" she growled as she slowly stomped towards boy.

Coby's eyes widened behind his glasses as he realized what he had said. "Please, anything but the iron club!" he begged shaking.

"Then hurry up and get going!" with that the captain kicked the pink haired boy launching him across the gap and into a wall. Where he crashed face first he slid down and cradled his bruised face trying not to sob. But a sudden yell pulled him out of the pain of crashing into a wall he looked up to see Alvida shadowed by the sun her tilter iron club pulled back for a strike. The boy gave a panicked scream as he ducked desperately as Alvida crashed through the wood.

Inside the ball room the pirates had gathered all the guest and marines into the center of the room. "We're not going to kill you..." one of the pirates addressed the crowd."But we're going to take everything of value."

"Anyone who resists will be thrown into the ocean!" Alvida threatened as she showed up from behind her crew.

The pirates laughed hardily at the guest's fear and the marine's inability to stop them. While around the corner the orange haired woman had been waiting and as if cued by the pirates laughter ripped off her cream colored dress revealing a blue shirt, black slacks with a red sash she paused for the briefest of seconds to tie a black bandana around her head covering her orange locks.

Coby wandered through the bowls of the ship hoping he could get through this without meeting any marines. He came to the storage area and noticed the door was ajar. "Hello?" he said quietly as he poked his head in. "There's no one here, right..." he leaned a bit further in to survey the empty room. Content that the room seemed only messy and not occupied Coby walked into it and gave a sigh. "Thank goodness..." The pink haired boy then turned and noticed that a barrel had seemingly cashed into a table spilling its contents all over the floor. "That's a pretty big barrel." he noted and suddenly he had an idea.

Back on deck the orange haired women was using one of the pirate's ropeways as a zip line. Easily landing on the pirate ship the woman broke into a jog as soon as her feet touched deck. She leaned against the wall besides the door that led to the interior of the ship. She looked across the deck several times to make sure she was alone. Nothing. She edged her fingers towards the door handle but before she could grab it the door burst open. The women jumped back in surprise. This wasn't right all of the pirates were suppose to be on the marine ship.

"Who are you? I've never seen you before." the pirate questioned staring at the women.

She gave a nervous laugh as the pirate leaned forward suspiciously but in an instant the nervousness disappeared and she gave a cruel smile as she kicked the pirate in-between the legs. The pirate collapsed in pain clutching at his manhood while the women gave a small wave and entered the ship.

Meanwhile Coby was trying his best to move the barrel to the pirate ship but by the time he had gotten it to the door just outside of the deck three of the pirates blocked his way. "Hey you coward! Are you hiding and doing nothing again?" one demanded.

"Not at all! I was pushing this wine barrel..." the pink haired boy explained desperately hoping the pirates would leave him alone.

Two of the pirates leaned forward "We'll help lighten your load." said the pirate in a blue striped bandana with a laugh.

The tallest leaned down "We're thirsty."

Coby's jaw dropped. "No way! If Alvida-sama finds out, you'll be killed."

"It'll be fine if you keep your mouth shut." The brown haired pirate threatened. "Right, Coby?"

The pirate with the bandana lifted the barrel and placed it on its bottom so the lid was now facing them. "Yeah that's true..." Coby agreed with a nervous laugh.

"It's pretty heavy..." he commented.

"Can't wait!" said another.

He cracked his knuckles "Don't be so greedy. I'm going to smash it open right now." With that he lifted a fist and brought it down with as much force as he could muster. But it never reached the barrel lid for at that exact moment a boy exploded from the barrel and a fist socked the pirate in the jaw. A body followed the fist as a boy came out arms stretched above his head. Coby and the pirates gave a startled yell and jumped back as the boy gave a yell. The boy was wearing a sleeveless red vest, jean shorts, and finally a straw-hat with a crimson ribbon around the middle.

"WHAT A GREAT NAAAP!" he grinned. There was a sudden thunk as the pirate finally hit the ground and the boy's wide smile shrank into a confused frown. "What the?" he wondered looking at the unconscious pirate and not even noticing the fearful stares he was getting from the remaining two. He then looked up. "Who are you guys?" he asked.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" the pirates shouted at the 17 year old, staw-hatted boy.

"He'll catch a cold if he sleeps there." he said as he climbed out of the barrel.

"It's your fault!" They shouted as one drew his sword placing it under the black-haired boy's nose.

"You bastard." growled out one. "Stop screwing around. Don't you know we're pirates?!"

The boy didn't even seem to notice as he turned towards the trembling Coby. "I'm really hungry," he said bluntly. "Got any..."

"Listen to what I'm saying!" the pirate shouted.

"You brat" yelled the other as he drew his sword.

Coby gave a gasp as the two pirates raised their swords high above their heads ready to strike down the straw-hated boy. He looked over his shoulder just in time for the pirates to swing down their swords. "DIE!" they both yelled. The pink haired boy covered his eyes waiting for the invertible screams and blood. But that didn't happen instead there was the sudden snap of metal and the pirates gave a surprised sound. Slowly Coby lowered his hands and looked up to see a very un harmed boy in front of him.

The two pirates sat where they had collapsed, swords broken tears in their eyes they could only stare at this boy who had defeated them in an instant.

"What are you doing all of a sudden?" he asked as if not realizing he had even been attacked.

"W... who are you?" one managed to get out.

"Me? I'm Monkey D. Luffy. Nice to meet you!" he introduced himself with a toothy grin.

With that care free introduction the two pirates ran dragging their crewmate screaming as if the very fires of hell were behind them.

"What... what just happened?" Coby asked as he stared up at the older boy in shock.

Of course Luffy was completely oblivious to the effect he had on the pirates and wondered out loud. "What's with them?"

Coby jumped up to his feet. "Hurry up and run!" he shouted. "When they come back with their friends, you'll be killed!" Luffy looked over his shoulder at the pink haired boy and gave a grin.

"Even so, I'm hungry." he said with a laugh.

"How can you say that so calmly?!" Coby said nervously then added. "There's lots of pirates on the deck!" As if that would convince the straw-hatted boy that it was dangerous. Of course Luffy ignored this as he walked through the corridors easily dragging Coby as the pink haired boy desperately tried to pull him back to the relative safety of the previous room. "Don't go that way." he grunted hanging from the black haired boy's arm. "Wait! You're going the wrong way."

Luffy ignored this and pushed open the door. His eyes widened as he saw boxes and bags full of food. "Food! Food! Food! Alright!" he shouted joyfully leaping down into the storage pit. "Food! Banzai! Food! Wai! Wai" he continued to celebrate.

Coby looked out the door."They might not find us in here." he said over Luffy's joyful ramblings. He checked the hall and slowly shut the door.

"Which one should I pick? This box? Oh, I'm right! It looks so good!" It was clear that the straw-hat boy hadn't given a second thought about the pirates on board or that he could easily be killed or captured if anything it seemed he was too focused on the box of apples to care about such trivial things.

"I'm Coby, and you're Luffy-san, right?" Coby asked with a nervous lit. "That was amazing back there. How'd you do that?" Referring to the two pirates' swords shattering.

"These are good!" commented Luffy his cheeks bulging with apples. Coby knelt down behind the older boy. "Is this a pirate ship?" Luffy asked still stuffing himself with apples.

Coby shook his head. "No... This ship isn't. This ship is being attacked by Alvida-sama right now."

"Mmm...? It doesn't really matter." Luffy said completely unconcerned. "Are there any boats on this ship?" he asked.

"There should be, but..." the pink haired boy trailed off wondering why he would need a boat.

"My ship got sucked into the whirlpool." he answered the unspoken question.

His eyes widened behind his glasses. "Eh, that whirlpool? You should be dead."

"Yeah!" he said finally turning from the box he then gave a wide grin as if almost dying was something that happened every day. "I was really surprised by it." Coby could only stare at him. "Are you a pirate as well?"

At this question Coby's look of shock faded into sadness and he suddenly found the floor fascinating. "That was... a fateful day." he started to explain. "That day, I went aboard, intending to go fishing... But it turned out that boat was going to a pirate ship!" Coby continued to stare at the floor not noticing that Luffy had turned to crouch beside him. "For the past two years, I've been working like a slave so they wouldn't kill me."

At this Luffy had one thing to say. "You're a freaking idiot!"

"How can you say that?" he asked his voice trembling.

"You can run away!" Luffy answered as if it was the most obvious choice.

The pink haired boy whipped his head back and forth. "That's impossible! Impossible, impossible!" he shouted. "When I think about Alvida-sama finding out, my legs shake and I get really scared..." he attempted to explain.

"Ohh," Luffy said as if he finally understood. "You're a coward. I don't like you." he continued with a friendly grin as tears streamed down Coby's face.

Back on deck Alvida was supervising as her crew moved everything of value onto her ship. "Get going! Move everything before the Marines get here!" she ordered.

The pirates used the ropeways as zip lines as they sent chest after chest across the gap between the ships. "Anyone who slacks off will meet my iron club! Alvida threatened her said club casually slung across her shoulder.

"Hurry up."

"Look at all the treasure!"

"Hey, if you daydream, you're going to get the iron club!"

"That'd be bad."

As the pirates were busy gathering their loot below deck the orange haired women wiped the sweat from her brow as she finally finished emptying Alvida's treasure trove.

On deck the pirates were oblivious to the fact their precious cargo had been transformed into empty boxes and chests.

"There's no way I can stand a blow from that."

"Alvida-sama!" the two pirates from before shouted as they popped out from below deck. The iron club pirate turned with a growl. "There's a problem."

She turned to face them. "What is it? You're so noisy."

In their panic the two pirates could barely seem to make complete sentences blurting out things like. "The barrel was..." and "A monster!"

At this Alvida's eyes narrowed and her lips drew back with a snarl. "Who's a monster?" she shouted drawing back her spiked club and swings it down with a monstrous force. But at the last minute the two pirates ducked so the club sailed over them distressingly this wasn't the case for their friend who had chosen that moment to awaken causing the club to hit him head on. Sending the hapless pirate flying through the railing of the ship and into the ocean. Then the club fell nailing the two pirates on the head. "That's not it..." started one barely able to retain consciousness."A weird person came out of a barrel..."

"He might be a bounty hunter."

"What?" growled the pirate captain.

Back in the storage room Coby had thought about what Luffy had said. "You're right." he realized. "Completely right... if I'm only brave enough to drift in the ocean in a barrel, there's something I want to do..." the pink haired boy gave a small closed lipped smile. "Luffy-san, what were you doing drifting in the ocean in a barrel?" he questioned.

Luffy gave a small hum of surprise and then a wide grin. "I'm going to be the Pirate King!" He said that with such conviction, as if it were an undeniable truth like "The sun is hot, or Snow is cold." something that no one could would be able to question.

"P... P... Pirate King?" Coby stammered with shock his eyes wide and his jaw dropped.

"Yeah."

"Seriously?"

Luffy gave a nod.

"That means Luffy-san is a pirate?"

"Right."

"Your crew?" he asked.

"Don't have any, looking for one now." was the blunt answer.

Coby seemed frozen in shock. After two years of forced labor on Alvida's ship. This boy, this blunt, oblivious boy was a pirate. Not only that he was going to become the Pirate King. Luffy waved a hand in front of Coby's face and the boy suddenly stood up with anger. "A Pirate King is someone who has everything in this world!" The worlds seem to flow faster and faster. "Wealth, fame, and power all united within one person." Luffy nodded with each word. "Meaning you are going after "One Piece"."

"Ah."

"'Ah' you say?! All the pirates in the world are going after that treasure!" Coby shouted.

"I am too!" Luffy replied with a grin.

"Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, absolutely impossible!" Coby shook his head back and forth. "It would be impossible to stand on to in this great pirate era! It can't be done, impossible impossible!" Suddenly Luffy punched the smaller boy on top of his head easily knocking him down and stopping the outburst of impossible.

"Why did you hit me?" the pink-haired boy whimpered clutching his injured head.

"Just because."

Coby slowly sat up. "It's fine, I'm used to it anyways." he chocked out a few desperate laughs.

"It's no if it's possible or not." Coby looked up at Luffy in surprise. "I do it because I want to. I decided to become the Pirate King. "He looked down at his straw hat as if it was something precious."I don't care if I die fighting for it." With that he placed the straw hat back on his head and started to walk off. "Now that I'm full, maybe I should go get a boat." he continued as if he hadn't said something that deep. "Maybe they'll give me one if I ask... If they're good people."

Once again Coby stared at the floor deep in thought. "I've never thought of that. Can I do that too? Not afraid to die." Luffy paused on the stairs and looked back.

"What?" he questioned.

"Maybe I can join the Marines."

"Marines?"

Coby straightened in a mixture of anger and for the first time in two years spirit. "That's right! It's my dream to catch bad guys!" he shouted tears gathering in his eyes. "It's been my dream ever since my childhood. Can I do it?"

Luffy gave a laugh "How would I know?" he said simply

That was all the conviction Coby needed. "No, I will do it! I'm going to get out of here and stop working as a slave for Alvida-sama!" he declared. "No, I will catch Alvida!" Coby stood straight and tall filled with conviction and excitement but before the pink haired boy could even make it to the stairs there was a sudden crash as the ceiling caved in causing Coby to jump back in fear and surprise.

"Making a friend like this..." The dust cloud obscured the figure but a terribly familiar voice rang from the cloud. "Who are you going to catch...? Eh, Coby!" the voice demanded.

Coby's entire body seemed to be shaking as he gave out a few halting whimpers of terror as the dust cloud cleared to revealed a very fat, very pissed off Alvida. Coby continued to shake as Luffy leaned forward in curiosity. At least until four swords stabbed through the door and wall. The straw hat ignored them not even fazed by the fact if the swords had been an inch or two closer his head would be shish kabob.

Alvida looked up at the black haired boy with a smirk. "You're not the pirate hunter Zorro." Coby looked up in surprise had she really expected the Zoro to be here.

"Zoro?" Luffy asked as if he had never heard of the famous bounty hunter.

But Alvida ignored him. "Coby!" she snapped. "Who's the most beautiful woman in this ocean?"

No matter how much convection, or how much anger you have it is almost impossible to shake off two years of fear of being killed, of terror of the iron club Alvida kept in her grasp. So Coby automatically started to say the one thing he knew would keep him from getting attacked. "That is of course...

"Who s this fat lady?" Luffy asked pointing at Alvida. Everyone looked at him in shock he had done something only a few others had ever done before. He had insulted the female iron club pirate.

"Fat? Now he's done it..." said one of the pirates fearfully looking down from the hole in the ceiling.

Alvida shook with anger her teeth grinding together. How dare he. How dare he call a delicate flower like herself fat. "BRAT!!!" she yelled pulling back her club for a mighty swing ready to crush the brat that dare insult her beauty. But Luffy easily launched himself across the room at the last second so the club smashed through the thick wood splintering it into a useless mess.


	2. The man who will become Pirate King pt 2

Cody shielded his eyes from the debris and then looked up just in time to see Luffy land in front of him. "Let's go!" Luffy said in a low voice then grabbed the younger boy by the arm and leapt straight up and out of the hole. The pirates jumped back in surprise as he landed with one hand preventing his hat from lifting away and the other held onto a terrified Coby. He then looked up with a grin at the pirates.

"You!" a pirate yelled rushing forward, swinging his sword at the straw hated boy. Luffy leapt backwards just out of reach of the sword he then brought his head back and knocked the pirate out with his chin.

Behind him another pirate raised his sword but before he could bring it down Luffy spun and socked the second pirate in the jaw sending him flying. As soon as Luffy landed four more pirates attacked swords high above their heads but Luffy leapt up and away with a cheerful shout. He landed easily and turned to face the shocked Coby with a wide grin. If they were surprised now wait until they saw what else he could do.

A pirate attacked from above with a yell but Luffy easily sided stepped it. "It's not fair to attack from behind!" he scolded grabbing the pirate by the head and throwing him into the four pirates from before causing them to all collapse in a heap.

Then Luffy paused as he heard several growls behind him. He looked back to see that more of Alvida's crew had come all with swords drawn, and eyes narrowed. "It's not fair to attack with more people." Luffy yelled as he ran from the mob of pirates. He continued to yell as he grabbed on to the mast with a hand and kept on going straight ahead. Of course this would be a problem if Luffy had been normal but who'd ever call Monkey D. Luffy normal so instead of suddenly stopping his arm continued to stretch out. The pirates stopped and stared at the hand attached to the mass then up at the boy and instantly panicked. The boy on the other hand had stopped his yelling and looked back with a grin. "Just kidding!"

The pirates turned and ran screaming as Luffy prepared to attack. "Gomu Gomu no..." Alvida came up just in time to see the black haired boy launch across the deck. "Rocket" He slammed into the pirates knocking some out, some off the ship and some into the nearest wall.

"What?" Alvida shouted her jaw dropping. This nobody had defeated her crew. Coby had a similar expression eyes wide mouth wide open in shock. The pink haired boy then gathered his wits about him and walked a few steps closer to the relaxed Luffy. "Luffy-san, what are you?" he asked.

"Me? I'm a rubber man." Luffy replied stretching his cheek passed his ear.

"Rubber man... that..." he suddenly stopped as he noticed Alvida standing right behind him. Coby gave a startled yell and scrambled behind Luffy who kept his cheek stretched out not even noticing the look of anger on Alvida's face.

"You ate the devil's fruit right?" she asked in a low growl.

Luffy let go and his cheek snapped back with a bong. "Yeah, I ate the rubber fruit."

"Is that so. I've heard rumors about it, but I never thought it really existed." her lips twitched in parody of a smile. "You also have some moves... Are you a bounty hunter?" she asked.

"I'm a pirate." he answered simply.

"Pirate? Just you?" She gave a short laugh as if it was ridiculous for one man to be sailing the seas.

Luffy gave a shrug. "It's just me right now, but I'll find a crew eventually." he paused in thought. "Let's see... I think about ten people sounds right." he concluded with a nod.

On Alvida's ship the orange haired women snuck out with her bag of stolen loot as the pirates were distracted by Luffy's simple minded conviction.

"I see, so you are a pirate." Alvida said with a laugh. "That makes us enemies doesn't it?"

After living with Alvida for two years Coby had learned the warning signs of the iron club pirates attacks "Lu... Luffy-san, run."

"Why?"

"You saw the power of that iron club didn't you?" Coby tried to explain. "This person is the number one..." he trailed off as he realized Luffy didn't care how strong Alvida was, he didn't care that he might die in fact he hadn't even been listening to a word Coby had been saying. _I've decided to become the Pirate King. I don't care if I die fighting for it. _Those words echoed through Coby's skull and at that moment he made a decision. He wasn't going to be afraid any more. He wasn't going to spend his life cowering.

"The number one what?" the overweight pirate asked with a cruel grin.

"Num... num... num..." he could do this. "Number one stinking ugly old hag!" Coby shouted his legs shaking and his fists clenched. The few reaming pirates stared at Coby with slack jaws. It was almost too much to believe that Coby the wimp that couldn't even swing across ship without crying had just done something that not even the bravest of them dared to do.

Alvida clenched her teeth together as Luffy erupted with laughter. "What did you say." she choked out.

"I will join the Marines!" Coby shouted up at the iron club pirate as Luffy continued to laugh. "Join and fight pirates like you!"

"Do you even know what you are saying?!"

"I know! I'll... I'll do what I want!" he took a breath and squeezed his eyes shut. "Join the Marines and... join the Marines and...." Coby's eyes flew open and he looked her straight in the chins. "Capture you!!"

This was the last stew for the female pirate and she swung down her spiked club. "Little brat!" she shouted.

Coby screamed as he could only watch Alvida bring down her club. He was going to die. _No regrets! No regrets! I said it! I fought for my dream!_

"Well said!" Luffy commented with a grin as he stood in front of Alvida just in time to be beamed in the head with his club. Coby could only stare at the staw-hatted boy in shock why had he done that. Didn't he have a dream of his own but those thoughts were pushed aside as Coby noticed Luffy's grin grow bigger. "Doesn't hurt." he mocked.

"What?" the pirate captain yelled. This was impossible his skull should have splintered open he should be dead.

"Because I'm rubber." with that he knocked the iron club aside and stretched out his fist past the deck railing. "Gomu Gomu no..." he raised a foot and replanted it as he whipped his arm forward. "Pistol!!!" Time to slow as the attack hit the female iron club pirate in the stomach. Sending her flying and even as the rubber man's arm began to snap back to its original size she continued flying until even the small black dot that represented Alvida disappeared on the horizon.

Somewhere in the middle of the ocean the pirate that Alvida had sent hurtling before floated on his back trying to remember how he had gotten there. "The sky is so blue..." he noted but any further thoughts were destroyed as Alvida suddenly fell from the sky. Crashing into the unlucky pirate with the force of her own cannon balls.

Back on the ships Luffy rotated his arm as the pirates and Coby stared at him with a mixture of shock, fear and awe. "Hey!" he said as he turned towards the pirates.

"Yes!" they straightened up in fear it was clear there was no way in hell they could take this guy on.

"Give Coby a boat." Luffy ordered. "He's going to join the Marines. Let him go."

"Yes, yes!" the pirates agreed trembling.

"Luffy-san."

The peace was destroyed by a low whistling and the water around the ship exploded.

Luffy and Coby tried to regain they're balance as the ship was tossed by the waves. "That's the... Marines!" Coby said as he caught sight of their embalm.

"Isn't that great?" Luffy said with a grin. "Why don't you go?" Coby turned to look at the Straw-hat in shock but before he could say a word Luffy leapt from deck on to the boat the pirates had prepared. "I'm a pirate, time to run!"

"How can I... They'd arrest me before I could join!" Coby yelled.

Between the two ships the orange haired women finished knotting her bag with a grin. This had been an exceptionally good haul. She then looked up as she heard the tell tale sounds of cannon fire then looked up and could help but scream as another small boat suddenly dropped next to her own. She looked at the boat in surprise and Luffy looked back at her with a wide grin. Their eyes meet for a moment but before any words could be spoken another cannon ball crashed separating the two.

Later somewhere in the East Blue a small boat cheerful bobbed across the waves. "We got away somehow..." Coby said scanning the horizon for ships.

"That was fun!" Luffy laughed.

"Um, Luffy san." the other boy turned to face Coby. "If One Piece is your goal, that means you are heading toward the grand line right?" He questioned. Luffy gave a grunt of agreement. "It's also called the graveyard of pirates."

"Yeah, that's why I need a strong crew." he leaned **1** Coby. "That pirate hunter... what kind of guy is he?"

"You mean Zoro." the pink haired boy asked wonder what Luffy was talking about. "I heard that he was captured by the Marines."

"What? He's weak then." Luffy frowned.

Coby rushed forward. "Not at all! He's a terrifying beast!" He paused. "Why are you asking me this?"

Luffy turned with a smile. "If he was a good guy, I thought I'd make him part of my crew."

The pink-haired boy stared at the black-haired boy in shock then gave a defeated sigh. "You're going to do something reckless again."

"He might be a good guy."

"He's been caught because he's a bad guy! It's impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible... Absolutely impos..." he was cut off by a sudden bonk on the head. "Why did you hit me?"

"Just because."

Meanwhile in the center of a nearby island's marine base stood a cross. Tied to the cross was a man with dark green pants, a grass green sash around the middle and a dirty white shirt. His hair was covered by a dark green bandana and looked by all means dead. But slowly he raised his head and glared at the building introit of him. This was the infamous Pirate Hunter Ronoro Zoro.


End file.
